Meledan
by A Quiet Storm
Summary: In a time of legends, one stood above all others. His name was Meledan. Now, as a new spectre of evil rises, it's time for his story to finally be told...
1. Prologue

Characters you recognise aren't mine. Characters you don't recognise are mine.  
  
This story may take some time to unfold so please be patient.  
  
~*~  
Edward Williams leaned against the frame of the large picture window and stared out across the city, not seeing the brilliant sunset for the myriad of images in his mind. Visions of troubled times to come, sights he'd hoped to never see again.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Edward gave a long sigh as he returned to the here and now with a rush. Slowly he turned to face the speaker. "I don't know."  
  
"But?" she prompted.  
  
He sighed again. "Something is about to happen. I can feel it." When she started to raise a query, he held up his hand to stop her. "I know, and I don't have any powers, but I've always been a seer. The Golden Wave could only destroy what wasn't native."  
  
She nodded. "That wasn't what I meant."  
  
Edward turned back to the window, seeing the cityscape for the first time in several hours. "It's not going to be good, and a champion will be called to defend the innocent and protect the weak."  
  
"You say that like you're certain."  
  
Edward smiled wryly, even though he knew she couldn't see the expression. "That's because I am."  
  
"But no seer can be that," she objected. "I know I don't know a lot about that kind of thing but I didn't think the future was that set in stone."  
  
Again, Edward turned to face her. "You're right, the future isn't set in stone. But, the only time my visions have ever failed is when I've tried to profit from them. When they come as they will... I've not been wrong in fifteen thousand years."  
  
He watched as her jaw dropped open wide in shocked horror. "That's not a gift!"  
  
"No," he agreed. He turned back to see the last remnants of the sunset. "No it's not."  
  
~*~  
  
The sun had just finished setting as Adam Park pulled into the driveway of his home. For a couple of moments, he admired the building. While he had been away, he had been staying in the lap of luxury in the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, but there was most definitely no place like home. He wasn't sure if it was the worn porch steps, or the pair of tricycles parked haphazardly on the square of lawn in front of the house, or the sound of his neighbour's dog barking at someone else's cat, but this was far more welcoming than any luxury hotel. Adam smiled to himself. Of course, it could be the two faces pressed up against the glass of the living room windows, eagerly awaiting his return.  
  
The twins would be celebrating their third birthday in a month's time, and would be starting pre-school soon after. Hard to imagine -- they seemed to be growing up so fast. As twins went they weren't terribly alike. Maria (named for Rocky's grandma) was the older of the pair by ten minutes and had all of her mother's looks, while Ashley (named for Tanya's mother) looked much like Adam. They were both, however, undeniably sisters and totally inseparable.  
  
Adam smiled. Can't let them wait any longer, he decided, and finally climbed out of the black SUV. He briefly stretched to relieve muscles cramped from the two-hour drive home, then claimed his bags from the trunk, locked the car and headed up the porch steps.  
  
Before he could so much as select his door key from the bunch in his hand, the front door was flung open, and out rushed the twin bundles of energy that were his children. It was as well that Adam had been expecting a welcome along these lines otherwise he -- and the twins -- would have gone flying backwards down the steps.  
  
"Daddy!" squealed the two little girls.  
  
Adam's smile was about as wide as it could get. "Hey there. How're my two favourite little ladies?"  
  
"We missed 'ou," commented Maria, who had firmly attached herself to his left leg.  
  
"Yeth we did," lisped Ashley, who had followed her sister's example, but with Adam's right leg.  
  
"And I missed you guys too," Adam answered.  
  
"C'mon, let daddy come into the house," Tanya interjected.  
  
Reluctantly, both girls released their holds and trailed back into the house. Adam followed, dropping a kiss on Tanya's lips as he passed.  
  
"Good journey?" she asked.  
  
"Could have been worse -- although I did get stuck on the freeway leaving LA," Adam answered.  
  
"You must have just caught rush hour."  
  
Adam nodded. "Couldn't be helped." Setting his bags on the floor at the foot of the stairs, Adam crouched down and held his hands out to the twins to draw them into a proper hug. "So -- have you been good for Mommy while I've been away?"  
  
Both dark heads started to nod vigorously, although Maria was moved to add, "Mommy, please say we've been good!"  
  
"Pleathe!" begged Ashley.  
  
Glancing up at Tanya, Adam could see her bite back a smile to answer seriously, "And should I have any reason to say anything else?"  
  
Adam grinned as both girls shook their heads. "I guess that must mean you've been good, and seeing as you have..." He released his hold on the twins and reached for one of the bags he'd set down. "I think you deserve a little present each."  
  
"Yay!"  
  
From the bag, Adam produced two small 'beanie' bears -- one clearly labelled Ashley and one clearly named Maria to avoid later squabbles -- and handed them over.  
  
"Thank you!" the twins chorused before tearing off to go and play with their new toys. Adam chuckled as they went.  
  
"You'll spoil them, you know," Tanya observed, as Adam got back to his feet.  
  
"Well I have to do something to make up for having been away for a month," he replied, drawing Tanya into a hug. He kissed her again, a little more thoroughly now that the twins were occupied again. "And what a month it's been."  
  
Tanya smiled. "Glad to be home?"  
  
"Definitely."  
  
"So how did it go?" she asked, gently starting to lead him in the direction of the kitchen.  
  
"OK, I guess -- I think Mona has finally 'got it' where martial arts are concerned, and the rest of the cast have progressed well enough that I shouldn't be called back on set now."  
  
Tanya smiled. "I guess all the years of teaching me and Kat finally paid off, then."  
  
Adam smiled wryly. "You and Kat wanted to learn. Mona... I swear I have no idea how or why she got cast!"  
  
Tanya laughed. "The only reason either Kat or I wanted to learn was because we had to."  
  
"I guess..."  
  
Cutting Adam off mid-sentence was a pained howl from the living room: "Mommy!"  
  
Tanya looked at Adam and grimaced. "Why do I always get called to the scene of attempted murder?"  
  
"Mommy!" The yell was louder and more pained.  
  
"There's coffee ready -- and dinner will be..."  
  
"MOMMY!"  
  
Adam smiled. "You go and prevent murder, I'll see to dinner."  
  
As Tanya hurried off to find out which twin was killing which, Adam turned his attention to cooking dinner. Yeah -- there really was no place like home.  
  
~*~  
  
The silence which had followed his last reply might have made Edward think she had left the room, but he knew she hadn't. She was standing there, behind him, wondering about what he'd said.  
  
"Do you know who'll be called?"  
  
Edward shook his head, his eyes firmly trained on the cityscape, trying almost to distract himself from the images he had seen. "Not for sure, but I have a suspicion."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"I recognised the powers that the champion will use and I know that they can only be used by a handful of people on this planet." He could almost hear her making the connections and intuitive leaps. "You'd be one of them," he continued, knowing he was confirming her theory, "but I know it's not to be you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Edward glanced over his shoulder, took in her petite, but undeniably feminine form and cracked the first genuine smile in several hours. "It's definitely a male ex-ranger."  
  
"Tommy then."  
  
She had named the obvious one, the one who had been the subject of a great many prophesies during his tenure as a ranger and the centre of far more than his fair share of trouble. But Edward knew it would not be him. "No -- from what I saw in the vision, the fighting style is wrong." He sighed again. "I spent many hours studying your respective fighting styles and at one time, I know I could have told you apart just by the way you moved...I guess that knowledge has atrophied since the Golden Wave. I know the style is one I recognise...and fought against...but more than that I can't say."  
  
He sensed her nodding. "I guess it would have done."  
  
There was another lengthy pause. Edward weighed up whether to tell her more of what he knew about the powers.  
  
"There's something else, isn't there."  
  
Damn, but she was perceptive. "Yes." He slowly turned to face her. In the gloom of dusk, he could just make out her face, and he could see the fear and worry. "Are you sure you want to know this?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Edward nodded, not surprised. "The nature of the powers means that whoever is called to them will have survived a personal tragedy." She gasped. "Most likely, he will lose everything."  
  
"Everything?" she echoed. "But...we've all settled...married...have children..."  
  
"Everything," Edward confirmed, hastily turning back to the view before she saw the tears in his eyes. He swallowed hard; forcing the emotion back, knowing now was not the time. "I hope to goodness I'm wrong, since I didn't directly see it, but I do know that it happened to the only previous wielder of these powers."  
  
He could feel her eyes boring into his back and didn't dare turn to meet the piercing gaze. "How could you know something like that?"  
  
Edward considered his response carefully. "Experience."  
  
~*~  
  
There were three. A boy, barely out of his teens; a man, hardened by a long and harsh life; but who or what the third being was, was a matter for debate. He -- if it was a he -- was wearing a heavy overcoat with the collar turned up, a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, gloves, dark glasses and a fedora hat pulled down low. He looked like every cliché of the invisible man; he should have looked comical. Neither the man nor the boy felt like laughing. Whoever their boss was, he was not someone either of them wished to argue with.  
  
"Mikey, report," growled the thing within the coat, in a voice that sounded as if its owner had suffered a very bad throat injury, raspy and rough.  
  
The boy swallowed briefly and then said, "It's just like you said it would be, boss." In spite of the obvious fear, Mikey's words came out with a mixture of awe and surprise, proving that his age was far closer to his looks than might have otherwise been guessed.  
  
"Why so surprised?" drawled the man.  
  
"But this is...was..." Mikey stammered.  
  
"Key word," rasped the boss, "was. Murphy?"  
  
The man allowed a faint smile to grace his face. "Like the kid says. It's just as you said it would be. Rich...make that very rich. There is an underground network but..." Murphy gave a casual shrug. "It wouldn't take much to...bring it into line."  
  
There was a raspy laugh. "Good. Good -- I intend this to be the start." In the silence that followed the declaration, more, unspoken, words echoed: I shall have my revenge.  
  
Mikey and Murphy both shuddered.  
  
~*~  
  
It was dark now. The sun was gone and the moon was yet to rise, leaving the only illumination of the cityscape as what could be generated by the street lighting. It was, Edward reflected, apro-pro of the mood.  
  
"How long do we have before this thing -- whatever it is -- hits?"  
  
He studied what could be seen of the city. "Hours, possibly. Weeks, maybe. Days, probably... I don't know."  
  
"Is there anything we can do to stop it?"  
  
She didn't sound optimistic -- a question born of habit rather than hope. "No."  
  
"What about to help the champion?"  
  
Edward turned his back on the city for the last time, and crossed the room to hold her close. "All we can do is be there for him when he needs us." He pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. "And he will need us." 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One  
  
The shrill ring of the phone extension that was almost next to his head was just about more than Adam could successfully ignore, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to continue to try. He was supposed to be having a lie in to aid recovery from a tough month's work, and to that end Tanya had taken the twins out to the park to give him some peace and quiet. Shit.  
  
Without bothering to so much as roll over, Adam stuck an arm out of bed and picked up the receiver.  
  
"Adam's asleep, Tanya's out, this is a recording."  
  
"I've spoken to your answering machine and it doesn't sound anything like that," laughed the person on the other end of the line. "You sound like hell Adam."  
  
Adam gritted his teeth. "That would be because I got back from a chaotic month in Hollywood last night and you're ruining my lie in, Rocky. Whatever this is, make it quick, or call me back in four hours time."  
  
"Well I was kind of hoping you could pick me up from the airport at lunch time."  
  
Adam's sleep hazed mind attempted to grasp the request and failed. "Why?"  
  
Adam could almost hear Rocky roll his eyes. "Because my flight lands at one o'clock this afternoon, PST."  
  
"You know I'm not a morning person," Adam retorted a touch defensively. "Anyway, I meant where have you been to be flying into Angel Grove? I didn't know you were out of town."  
  
"You weren't kidding about a chaotic month," Rocky observed. "I've been in Washington covering the 'trial of the century'."  
  
Adam frowned for a few moments, trying to dredge up any current affairs and news he might have come across in what little free time he'd had. "The Kazinski case?"  
  
"That's the one," Rocky agreed. "And I'll even tell you all about it, if you pick me up."  
  
Adam shook his head. Rocky was persistent, he'd have to give him that. "OK, OK. I'll meet you at one o'clock."  
  
"Adam, you are a Godsend and a life saver - I owe you and Tanya a night out."  
  
Before Adam could remind Rocky about the twins, Rocky had hung up. Knowing Rocky, he actually means he'll baby sit for us. Adam smiled and shook his head. For a guy who likes kids so much, I'm always surprised to know he isn't even seeing anyone.  
  
Setting the receiver back in its cradle, Adam decided to cut his losses and get up. He had managed a couple of hours more sleep, which was not bad going - especially given the twins - and was considerably better than nothing at all. With the decision made, he started to get up, only to be halted as the phone began to ring again.  
  
"What is this, pick on the frog day?" Adam groused, reaching for the receiver once more. "Park residence."  
  
"We know where you live, Ranger. We're coming for you." The voice was so highly distorted Adam knew he shouldn't have been able to recognise it, but for all that, there was a note of familiarity in the threat.  
  
Even as he recognised that, though, there was the telltale click of the call being disconnected, leaving Adam sat, more than slightly stunned, listening to the dialling tone. Who knew that piece of his past? It wasn't so much the threat that had shocked him, but the fact that the caller had called him a Ranger. Eventually, Adam realised he was still holding the receiver, and mechanically set it back in its cradle, but the question continued to rattle around his mind.  
  
There were, by his reckoning, no more than twenty people who knew that he had been a Ranger. Of those, fifteen were ex-Rangers themselves and good friends of his. There was no way it could be any of them. The remaining five were admittedly former enemies of the Rangers, but Adam knew now that all of them had been under some form of spell and that their real personalities were about as far away from the villainous personas he had known as they could conceivably be. That made it unlikely it would be one of them.  
  
The only other candidate that he could think of was Eugene 'Skull' Skullovich but that just had Adam shaking his head before the idea could even properly form. As irritating as Skull had been when they had been in high school, Adam had long since realised that it had all been a front. Just as he had chosen to hide in his books and martial arts classes, Skull had chosen to play the role of obnoxious punk. No - even if Skull had learned his secret, Adam doubted he would have come up with this eerie threat.  
  
All of which left Adam with no obvious suspects. He wanted to dismiss it as a crank call, but the mention of rangering had got every last nerve on alert. He sighed. He wasn't going to figure it out alone, or without a cup of coffee. When he saw Rocky later on that morning, he'd see if Rocky had received any kind of threat. With that decided, Adam dismissed it from his conscious mind, and started to get up.  
  
~*~  
  
"Mel?"  
  
Mel heard the lilting, musical call and grimaced. His sister was looking for him, but he most definitely did not want to be found. From his perch in the Massassi tree, he watched as his sister came into view.  
  
"Mel where are you?" she called.  
  
Mel stayed still, safely hidden within the spreading branches. He knew full well why she was looking for him. Today was the day he was supposed to take the tests to see whether he should attend the Mage College. He knew that if he took the tests, he'd pass and be accepted, but he didn't want to go there. He wanted to stay on in high school with his friends. He didn't want to be different.  
  
"Come on, Mel, please - come out?"  
  
She was right below him now, a flash of blond hair and pale complexion amidst the greenery of the tree. He didn't want to upset her - after all, she had all but been his mother for most of his life - but he did not want to take the tests.  
  
"Mel it's nothing to be afraid of."  
  
Mel knew she was speaking from experience - she had tested for the Mage College herself, everyone did when they reached thirteen. It did nothing to assuage his fears. He didn't want to be different. People who went to the Mage College were feared - and he didn't want to be feared. He had too few friends already - he didn't want to lose the rest.  
  
"Please, Mel."  
  
She wasn't going to let up, but Mel was equally he wasn't going to come down until she'd gone. He knew she'd be disappointed, and knew that his father would be angry. But he didn't want to go. Why couldn't they understand that?  
  
There was a rustle in the branches of the tree and suddenly a hand came down upon Mel's shoulder. He jumped.  
  
"Mel," his sister began gently, "it really is nothing to be afraid of."  
  
She had found him. "You don't understand, Lidya."  
  
Lidya smiled. "Then make me. Tell me what you're so bothered about?"  
  
Mel sighed. "I don't want to go to the Mage College."  
  
Lidya's eyebrows raised in surprise. "But you can't possibly know you'll pass the tests. If you don't pass the tests, you'll go to the high school, just like I did."  
  
"But that's just it," Mel replied miserably, "I do know."  
  
Lidya's expression froze. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I saw it. I saw me taking the test...I saw me passing."  
  
For a long moment, Lidya stared at her brother in silence until Mel started to feel uncomfortable with the scrutiny. "What do you mean you 'saw'?" she asked, eventually.  
  
Mel shrugged not sure how to put it into words. "I got...a picture in my head. Like a dream but much more real." Lidya's gaze continued to bore into him. "What?"  
  
She shook her head. "How long have you been getting these...pictures?"  
  
Again, he shrugged. "I don't know. Since I was a little kid?" Lidya shook her head. "Doesn't everyone get them?"  
  
Lidya gave a long, measured sigh. "No, Mel. I don't get them; father doesn't get them. Mother didn't get them either. None of your friends get them either."  
  
Mel gaped in outright horror. "Vlarnia was right I am a freak!"  
  
Lidya sighed again, shook her head and smiled ruefully. "You're not a freak, Mel. I promise you you're not. You're just...gifted."  
  
"Gifted?" Mel echoed.  
  
"Gifted," Lidya confirmed. "Those pictures you get are visions and only very special people can get them."  
  
"So...I'm...I'm special?"  
  
Lidya nodded. "Yes. Very special. And you will need to go to the Mage College so that you can learn how to...control the visions."  
  
"Could...could they make them stop?" he asked softly.  
  
Lidya shook her head again. "It's a part of you, Mel - they could no more stop the visions than you could stop breathing. Why?"  
  
"Promise not to tell father?" Lidya looked confused, but nodded nonetheless. "I see other things too...nasty things..." Mel gulped. "Death."  
  
"Whose death?" Lidya asked softly.  
  
"Father's."  
  
"Oh, Mel..." Lidya trailed off, shaking her head. She reached out to him and drew him into an embrace. "Why didn't you say something sooner? We could have got you help." Mel said nothing. "Will you come now and take the tests? So that you can have some help?" Meekly, Mel nodded.  
  
~*~  
  
Edward slumped back in his seat and propped his head on his hand. His eyes burned from a lack of sleep, his head pounded from too much caffeine and he felt heart sore from the certain knowledge that there was nothing he could do to prevent what was coming.  
  
"We have to try."  
  
He looked up. "I know we do. And at the same time..."  
  
She held up her hand to stop him. "Don't."  
  
He sighed and shook his head. "I can't help it, K. I know what I saw. What I felt. Worse, I know what happened to the previous wielder of the powers."  
  
"So you said last night." She crouched in front of him. "Tell me about him - maybe we can find a way to help this time round."  
  
Edward leaned forwards. "I guess it might help," he admitted. "But it's mostly ancient galactic legend."  
  
She quirked an eyebrow. "Galactic legend?"  
  
Edward nodded. "The truths have got lost in the mists of time."  
  
"But you know them?"  
  
Edward smiled faintly. "I know some of them," he hedged. She just looked at him knowingly. "Did Zordon ever tell you about Meledan?"  
  
"As in the order of?" she queried.  
  
"Sort of," Edward answered. "Meledan was the man they formed the order in memory of."  
  
"Zordon's Zordon, huh?"  
  
Edward grinned. "Not exactly. Meledan disappeared without trace before Zordon had even started his training. Some say he was killed, others say he simply vanished into the sunset."  
  
She gave him a shrewd look. "And what do you say?"  
  
"I say it's a hell of a lot more complicated than that."  
  
~*~  
  
"Adam!"  
  
The yell was loud enough that those closest to the source physically recoiled. It left Adam shaking his head, but it was Rocky all over. Always the exuberant one.  
  
As Adam watched Rocky race up the ramp into the arrivals lounge something strange started to happen. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Movement turned to slow motion. Sounds stretched out into meaningless echoes, yet one sound remained.  
  
A heartbeat.  
  
His own.  
  
Pounding.  
  
And then there was another sound. A loud, exaggerated explosion.  
  
Real-time started again as people started to scream, but it took Adam's brain several seconds to catch up. His eyes were riveted to the horrific sight on the ramp up into the arrivals lounge.  
  
It was like something out of a movie.  
  
Except this was real.  
  
The explosion was a gunshot, perfectly aimed, right between Rocky's eyes, leaving behind a perfect, red hole.  
  
To be continued... 


End file.
